When I was an owner I paid my pizza cooks the average starting rate, which was $13 an hour. I paid my drivers $8 an hour plus gas money. If I found out one of my pizza chefs thought it was okay to screw people out of tips because he didn’t get any, I’d be annoyed. Ask any driver if they might not want to get $5 an hour more to stay at the pizza place, not have to brave any elements, not have to drive into neighborhoods where they could get killed for a $10 pizza, not have to drive with drunks and other dangerous people on the road, and I bet they would say yes. That’s a guaranteed $500+ a week where a driver working the same hours will maybe make $200 to $300 in pay and will likely have to fill up once a day, so figure $100 a week in gas, then they have to maintain their car and insurance. If the car breaks and they can’t cover it, they lose their job. A store worker can take the bus or get a ride if that happens. So right off the bat we’re at $100 to $200 a week after expenses. Yes, we expect tips.
I treat the customers with respect and I get the food there fast. If they tell you 45 minutes, I will have it there in 20 to 30. If you screw me out of a tip or give me a totally bad tip ($5 for a $100 is a bad tip) you will always get your order in 45 minutes or longer fro me after that. I will not get your mail. I won’t play with your dog, I’m not saying hi to your kids, I will give you a blank look, take the money, and leave. That’s the service you get for showing us you could care less about us.
Now, imagine a world that doesn’t tip at all. Drivers would quit, so deliveries would stop. One of two things would have to happen: A) You get off your lazy butts and come get the food. B) The pizza places would have to either buy employee vehicles or pay a much higher wage to drivers to cover minimum wage, gas, etc, and make it worth doing. Both of which would be passed on to you the customer. So that $10 pizza now becomes $15 because you’re cheap. It is possible some cheap pizza at places with bad pizza would be unaffected, but you get what you pay for.
And if you have a business, like you’re a plumber, Realtor, etc and we see your company logo, and you stiffed us, we will go out of our way to tell as many people as we know that they should avoid your business. If we see you broken down on the side of the road, we will keep going. If we see you walking near a puddle, we will try to hit it to soak you. If you are getting robbed or having a heart attack, we will not call the police for you. We will return the favor of considering you just as worthless as a human being as you did for us.
Bridgeport, is one the the 50 most dangerous cities in the United States. You try delivering there in the summer when everyone is outside at night, while having money, food, a car, a cell phone, for low wages and no tip, see how you like it. Some people say we get paid to do that job, and yes we do, but bartenders get paid for their work, taxi drivers for theirs, waiters for theirs, massage therapist, hairdressers, golf caddies, etc all get paid for theirs, so you going to screw them also?
I have a friend who never tips at bars. I always start with a $5 tip for my first drink. He gets served last, I get served right away. Every time. He will often wait 15 to 20 minutes for a beer when I have one in my hand before I even ask for it (which is funny because I’m not always ordering a beer), but he doesn’t believe in tipping. I don’t believe in people getting paid under minimum wage.
Some people are just ingrates and it sucks for the people trying to give them good service. If you don’t tip you should just go do whatever it is you want yourself.
The Driver (Adam Smith)
© Adam Smith and drivershout.wordpress.com, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Adam Smith and drivershout.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
“Kick Rocks” Pizza Delivery Nightmares by Adam Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
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